Deborah L. Lu, Ph.D., Shareholder and member of the firm's Intellectual Property group, was quoted in the recent Bloomberg BNA Life Sciences Law & Industry Report article "Patents Are Back as Top Issue for 2015, Life Sciences Attorneys Say."

Patent eligibility of natural products was listed as the top issue in 2015 by most of the attorneys surveyed in large part due to an end-of-year Patent and Trademark Office revised interim guidance and a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit concerning Myriad.

Dr. Lu commented that, as a result of the interim guidance and the Federal Circuit's ruling, life sciences companies "should handle natural products as they did before the interim guidance by distinguishing the product from its naturally occurring counterpart. For example, claims to isolated nucleic acid sequences may be non-naturally occurring subject matter if cloned in a vector, or expressed in a cell or organism in which it normally wouldn't be expressed. Companies may also consider curing any patents directed to natural products, as currently defined by the PTO, by reissue."

To read this Life Sciences Law & Industry Report in its entirety, please download the attachment below.